New York, New York
by kiratotherescue
Summary: While giving an NYU tour, Dan Humphrey meets Rachel Berry, a girl from Ohio who's in New York for a glee club competition.  Should they try for something more with Rachel leaving so soon?
1. Bright and Early

Dan tiredly took a sip of his grande Starbucks latte as he walked to the NYU campus at 7 AM. He had been selected to give the tours for possibly interested NYU candidates. The tour started at 8, but he had to get there by fucking 7 AM every morning. Who even wants to go on a stupid tour at 8 in the morning? Don't people have better things to do, like…sleep? Well, either way, he would have to stop being such a whiner and just deal with it.

He arrived at the usual spot near the front of the campus and was surprised to find someone already sitting on the bench. She looked about seventeen or eighteen, and she was dressed in a pretty ridiculously preppy outfit, which, for some reason looked kind of sexy on her. He walked up to her.

"Um, are you here for the tour…?" he asked, running his hand through his hair.

"Yes, I am! Hello, I'm Rachel Berry! And you must be my tour guide!" she gave him a huge smile and held out her hand. Dan shook it wearily.

"Well, you _do_ know the tour starts in an hour, right?" he laughed.

"Of course! But I always like to get to my engagements as early as possible. So here I am! I'm actually waiting for my friend, Kurt. He's coming on the tour as well, he's just getting us some coffee. We're here in New York for glee club nationals."

"Oh, you're in a glee club? That's interesting."

"It's _so_ much fun! Were you in one in high school?" Dan laughed at the thought of actually singing in front of anyone beside himself in the mirror with a hairbrush.

"Oh no, no. Not me. To say I'm not a good singer is quite an understatement."

"Aw, well, I'm sure you'd be good at it if you tried." she gave him another smile. He felt his heart beat a little faster in his chest. _What the hell, Dan? Get yourself together_, he snapped at himself. Anyway, their conversation was interrupted by who Dan assumed was her friend, Kurt. He was a tall, poised, gay-fabulous brunette dressed in something that looked like it just came off the runway. He handed Rachel her coffee and looked up at him, then back at her, as if he already knew Dan was attempting to flirt with her. Rachel broke the short silence by introducing them. "Dan, this is my friend, Kurt! Kurt, this is our tour guide, Dan!" "Nice to meet you, Dan." Kurt said politely, shaking his hand and taking a sip of his coffee. They all sat down on the bench and had a small chat until more people began to arrive. Then, it was time to start the tour.


	2. Glancing

The tour was half an hour in now. Dan was showing the crowd of people the library. Rachel was mostly marveling at Dan's arms rather than paying attention to what he was saying. She was interrupted by a few snaps from Kurt's hand in front of her face. "Hey, over here, Berry!" he whispered. "What?" "Come on, you and the hot tour guide have been glancing at each other every five seconds! You're practically having sex with your eyes!" "And why is that any of your business?" "Well, you better ask him out by the time this tour is over or I'll have to do it for you!" she lightly punched him in the arm and continued walking down the hall.

* * *

><p>"Well, that about concludes our tour! Thanks for coming, guys. You can grab a brochure for more information in the front office." Dan waved off the rest of the crowd, while Rachel and Kurt waited off to the side. Dan noticed them and began to walk over. "Now's your chance!" Kurt nudged Rachel obnoxiously. She slapped his hand away in order to avoid at least a <em>little <em>embarrassment.

Dan clapped his hands together. "So, Rachel, um, I was wondering…if you wanted to get coffee with me later or something…?" Rachel could almost hear Kurt giggling inside. "Yes! Of course! Let's do it!" she pulled out her star-shaped notepad and wrote her number down, then handed him the piece of paper. "Just make sure not to call me from 6 AM to 7 AM, 'cause that's my work-out time. And noon to 2 PM is glee club rehearsal for nationals. And, of course, tomorrow night _is_ nationals." Dan looked a little overwhelmed by all this schedule craziness. He just smiled and said, "Okay, I'll call you." After he was a safe distance away, her and Kurt finally got to giggle with each other.

* * *

><p>Dan walked away, chuckling a little too himself while looking at the star-shaped piece of notepad paper in his hand. He didn't know what he had just gotten himself into, but there was just something about that Rachel girl…<p> 


	3. Coffee

It was 3 PM on Sunday, and it was time to meet Rachel at the café for coffee. Dan quickly threw on a button-down shirt with some jeans and tried to make his hair look as nice as it could. Then he headed down the elevator and got a cab.

* * *

><p>After glee club rehearsal, Rachel quickly went back to the hotel with Kurt to get ready while the others went to walk around Times Square. They found a fairly cute dress that didn't look quite as hideous as her other sweaters. Kurt fixed her hair up with a modest headband and some flats, and she was good to go. "Perfect." Kurt smiled. "Now, go get some caffeine with your hot tour guide!" Rachel grabbed her bag and headed to the café.<p>

* * *

><p>"Dan!" Dan quickly looked up from his newspaper and smiled, seeing it was Rachel. She looked even prettier than she did yesterday. She was wearing a beautiful yellow dress, that wasn't too fancy like all the dresses seemed to be in this city. Rachel took a seat and ordered a vanilla latte from the café waitress. Dan tried not to be weirded out by the fact that it was the same drink that he always ordered here.<p>

"So, Rachel, tell me about yourself," Dan folded his hands and rested his chin on them, trying not to stare at her.

"Well, I love to sing! A lot. Like, a LOT! I want to be a Broadway star someday, like the almighty Barbra Streisand! I'm going to be _famous_!" he chuckled. She was cute.

"So, you figured coming to NYU would get you there…?" Dan wondered why she wasn't touring Julliard.

"Well, you know, you can't have too many options! My two dads have been pushing me to take a _zillion_ college tours! I have a theory that they just want to get me out of the house!" he marveled at how many times her facial expressions changed in a simple sentence.

"Ah, two dads?"

"Yes, I have two gay dads. They're actually very nice. Well, I mean, why wouldn't they be?" Dan wondered how she could talk this much while barely even taking a breath.

"So, were you adopted?" Dan sipped his coffee.

"No, well, it's complicated. I did meet her, but, you know…" For a few moments, she was actually silent. She sipped her coffee quietly. Then, she regained herself and sat up again. "Moving on," she smiled. There was something slightly vulnerable about her that interested him. He could ask her questions all day and just watch her talk. _God, she's beautiful_, he thought. Then he snapped himself out of it again and smiled back. He had a feeling he would be asking her out on a second date.

* * *

><p>After a long chat and they had both finished their coffee, Rachel gathered her things and stood up. "Well, thank you, Dan. This was nice. I have to go meet Kurt now and tell him everything that just happened. Well, I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that, but oh well." she smiled, walked over and kissed him on the cheek. Dan tried not to blush. Then, she walked away before he could say anything. Suddenly, she turned back around. "Dan!" He smiled. "Yes, Rachel?" "Would you like to come watch me and the glee club perform at nationals tonight?" "Um, yeah, sure." he was surprised at the invitation. She gave him the information on another piece of her star-shaped notepad paper and left the café.<p> 


	4. Nationals

**Author's Note: Yeah, I forgot to mention, just pretend that all that Finchel stuff that happened in this episode never happened. *wink wink***

It was 5:30 PM. It was almost time to go to the theater to see Rachel perform with her glee club. Dan stared himself in the mirror. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to wear to one of these things. Formal? Casual? He dug through his closet and found something in between. He put on some nice jeans, a v-neck t-shirt, and a black blazer, and also played with his hair a little bit and put a little bit of styling gel in it. Dan was ready to go. Of course, he didn't forget grabbing the single red rose he had bought for Rachel that he had left on the counter. He just hoped nobody would spot him on his way to a show choir competition. He figured that despite his hopes, it would still be the next thing on Gossip Girl.

* * *

><p>New Directions was in the dressing room, getting ready for the competition. As Rachel was putting on her makeup in front of the mirror, Kurt popped his head up behind her. "Is he coming is he coming is he coming?" he interrogated giddily. Rachel tried not to look as excited and nervous as she really was. "Yes." she said casually, swiping on her blush. She couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Who are ya talking about Rachel? Did you actually manage to attract someone under the age of forty?" Santana snickered, doing her hair in the seat next to her. "Yes, actually, I did, for your information, Santana. He's in college, actually. He goes to NYU. And he's coming to watch me perform tonight." Rachel said, irritated. "Ooo, a college boy." Santana mocked her. Rachel just ignored her and put on her lip gloss. She wasn't going to let her ruin her big moment.<p>

* * *

><p>Dan found a seat in the crowd of people in the theater just as the show was starting. He sat through the contestants previous to New Directions, marveling at how much time these high school kids spend perfecting these extravagant numbers. Finally, the announcer introduced New Directions. Dan sat up.<p>

The first number was a duet with Rachel and some other handsome jock-looking guy. He felt a little bit uncomfortable watching the two of them look lovingly into each other's eyes, but he figured it was just for show. He felt a little relieved when the song was over and the entire glee club began to break into a catchy pop tune. Dan found himself tapping his feet to the beat. They had a certain spirit and heart to them that the other contestants didn't have. And, of course, Rachel shined out of the crowd like a star.

Finally, when the competition was over, Dan tried to make his way through the large crowd scampering out of the theater and find the top ten results, since he figured that was where they would be. He stood a little outside of the crowd and waited until he saw Rachel emerge. She looked anything but happy. He walked over to her and held the rose out to her. "Um…this is for you. Great job." he said, running his hand through his hair. He wasn't sure what to say to her. He assumed they didn't make it into the top ten. "Thanks." she said, taking the rose. She looked down at her shoes, barely catching his glance. Then, he could see tears start to well up in her eyes. "Rachel…are you okay?" She shook her head. Dan just pulled her into a hug and let her cry into his shirt. He swore he saw Mr. Duet Guy give him a dirty look as he walked by, but he just ignored it. All he cared about was the girl crying in his arms right now.


	5. Goodbye

After a little trip to Dan's favorite diner to get some fries with Rachel, it was 9:30 PM. Time to walk her back to the hotel. When they finally got to the front of the hotel, they stood for a few seconds in silence. "So…you're leaving tomorrow?" Dan asked. "Yes. I go back to Ohio in the morning." Rachel said quietly. She dared to look up at him. "Well, maybe I'll see you again." she said hopefully. "Yeah…I sure hope so." Dan let out a fake laugh. "Well, I guess I better get going, then." Rachel shifted awkwardly. "Okay, then. Don't forget me when you're a big Broadway star." Dan said, faking a smile. He wished she could stay. She began heading for the door, when all of a sudden, he blurted, "Rachel, wait." she turned around. He walked right up to her and kissed her, and she kissed him back. After that, they didn't need to say anymore. The looks on each other's faces said everything. Then, Dan watched her leave, noticing a little skip in her step.


End file.
